1974: Bomb Disposal Expert Lt. Col. George Styles | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive 

I hope technology means we don’t need him to risk his life so close to it and can do the job from far enough away to remove the danger

@@gump5ter01 The "wheelbarrow" (invented in 1972 by Peter Miller) was designed to help with this task. The British Army replaced it in 2019 by a more advanced American machine (the Harris T7). For many years, I used to have a photograph of a wheelbarrow being deployed in the NAAFI car park in Rheindahlen, Germany, where the IRA had planted a car-based bomb. My late father was then a soldier in the Intelligence Corps of the British Army and, at that time, used to work in operations involving the IRA and the Baader-Mainhof mob as well as other jobs. What really made my Dad's blood run cold wasn't so much attending the scene (to identify the manufacturers of the bomb before detonation) but the fact that I had walked across that same car park and passed the bomb vehcile not ten minutes before the IRA placed the call. The threat was real: the IRA had placed a bomb near the Globe theatre in the barracks in 1973 and they were to bomb the garrison again in 1987. Those two bombs actually exploded, the first one causing only material damamge (the film ended early) and the latter one injuring some 31 people. For those who don't know, the NAAFI ussed to operate small shops right up to large supermarkets. In Rheindahlen, the IRA had chosen to place their bomb in the car park of the supermarket. I had been sent on a shopping errand for some bits and pieces by my Mum, which is why I was in the vicinity. The cowards of the IRA used to like soft targets: families; young cadets; shopping centres; war memorial services .... At the time, the wheelbarrow had only been in use for a few years but it had already saved many soldiers' lives. Alas, after one move too many, I lost that photograph and a number of others.

In 1974 he would have been a prime target for an IRA unit. He would have routinely checked under his bonnet, and the underside of the car before driving off each morning.

I thought he was 70

What was the purpose of the false plates?

I'm assuming it was to hide his Identity from potential attacks by the IRA at the time? Or put it another way, maybe the Provo's had the ability to access the DVLA records? (or maybe even a supporter on the inside?) @@marine4lyfe85